Rehearsals finished, leaving for China

We rehearsed much of the last two days, and everyone is a little tired. I fortunately don't have the problem of jet lag, but the way the schedule has worked has meant late dinners, and therefore later bedtimes. Still, I seem to wake up like clockwork at 8h, probably because of the daylight coming in the window, which is imperfectly shaded. We are spoiled by the Velux blinds that completely block out all light in our bedrom at home.

We ate dinner last night at a great little restaurant called the Britzer Mühle. Of course we had schnitzel and spätzle for our last day in the city, and some dark beer. It's not Belgian but it's ok.

Yesterday morning was an early start. Kerry and I made a visit to the Hartwig Antiquariat, run by Robert Hartwig, here pictured with his many signed ohotographs of conductors that he heard and met at opera performances in Berlin over many decades. He is a music fanatic and has a huge store filled with 78 records, LPs, CDs, those little statuette busts of composers and many, many scores.

Kerry was in a bit of hurry so I didn't get a chance to talk with Herr Hartwig as long as I would have liked, but we did discuss lyric baritones that he has heard and enjoyed, and those he did not... One of his favorites apart from people like Hans Hotter who are very well known was someone named Heinrich Schlusnus, who was most active between the first and second world wars. I looked online and found a good recording of his 'di Provenza', which although sung in German, still shows the voice and older style of phrasing. Very, very interesting stuff. Here it is:

I was able to find some nice arrangements of Beethoven folksongs with voice, piano, violin and cello, some Pfitzner lieder, and a book of duets by various composers, including quite a few that will work for baritone and soprano. There is a lost office in both Berlin airports so I think that I will save myself the hassle of schlepping these all the way to China and back again and just mail them to Brussels. (Maagie's idea).

Speaking of Maggie and the kids, I had a brief talk with them this morning, they are tired out from their exertions. Maggie still has some marking to do: for all those people who complain how hard teachers have it I wish they could see how our family used to cluster around the dining room table on the saturday of Easter weekend, marking tests. Malcolm learned how to read a multiple choice answer key by the age of seven! It's not as bad here because instead of highschool it's grade five and six, but the work is far more individualized and so Maggie stays late every day at school doing her marking there. Even so she does have to bring larger projects home on the longer holidays. I hope she doesn't have to take all that stuff to Scotland!

I am hoping that this afternoon or tomorrow they will make it to the place de La Monnaie where a big skating rink has been built, and have a skate....

Next post should be China! Talk to you then...

Eastbound from Köln; firstdays in Berlin

I just made the successful change between trains in Köln, with a pause of perhaps 30 minutes between trains. Just enough to eat a pretzel and buy a can of Früh for the next leg of the trip, and to walk out onto the square outside the station and have another look at the outside of the cathedral.

The last time I was in Cologne was to sing an audition for the central employment agency... it's got to be four or five years ago now. I came here twice to audition for them; once I was met by Kieth Boldt who was living here, prior to his move to Leipzig. The second time I think I came on my own. The inside of the cathedral is beautiful if I remember correctly, and I see there is a special exhibition inside on the drei Könige, but it's not something I can see today. Perhaps on the return trip?

I don't think that I have forgotten anything, but there's always the chance. The nice pair of warm Kodiac boots that I was planning on wearing as I walked around Beijing seem to have stayed in Canada at Bruce's house; I have a pair of chestnut coloured chukka boots but there isn't much tread on them, so I will look around in Berlin. Unlike the forecast for that part of Germany this week - high temperatures of 14 degrees! - Beijing seems to be fluctuating between highs of +7 and lows of -7. I brought along a light hat, some gloves, and two sweaters, and a very warm scarf, so I hope I will be warm enough. It looks as I will get a chance to meet up with the McKees on the 21st or 22nd, which makes me very happy.

The Brussels-Köln train was qute grimy and packed full of people, some of them without seat reservations. It is a special condition of rail travel in Europe that one may buy a ticket for a rail journey, but a seat reservation is an optional charge. For trains thart aren't busy, one has always the chance to save the few euros on the very likely bet that seats will be there to be taken, but on a busy train, one has to sit on their suitcase in the space between carriages, or take up position in the bar car. This train is a little less crowded and is much quieter. I am happy for that as it will take a bit less than five hours to get to Berlin, even at 150 km/h.

The arrival in Berlin was easy. the station there is beautiful with a large Christmas tree reaching almost to the ceiling. From the main concourse you can see the glass dome of the Reichstag just to the south.

Peter's flat is very easy to find' maybe 15 minutes' walk, in a nicely renovated building with lots of windows, overlooking a little park next to an early 20th century hospital.

We immediately left again after dropping off luggage, as the general rehearsal for Die Fledermaus was starting at 19h. It was quite the production; playing on a steeply raked wooden stage must have been a bit of a challenge for the singers. The Komische Oper does many different kinds of musical theatre; in one week they might play five different performances, and the material ranges from West Side Story (sung in English but with German dialogue) to Fledermaus (all in German of course) to Rossini's Barber (sung in German!) to Strauss's Moses und Aron. It's quite the place.

Yesterday I went out exploring and visited a number of vintage clothing shops inthe Mitte district. Unfortunately most of these are very organized, very clean, and curated, so clothes there are really not a deal. Fortunately I found a new place that is a real jumble, so there were things there that looked more promising; however that will have to wait until thenext visit I think.

In the afternoon we worked quite a bit on the Viennese music and also coached the Peter aria from Hänsel und Gretel, which I love. Then Urs, the tour planner picked me up and I came to the hotel in south Berlin to check in.

Last night the conductor and I went out for dinner, and then made it an early night. Today at noon we will go have lunch with the production team and then our rehearsals begin at a concert hall nearby, with one from 15h to 17h30 and another from 18h to 21h. The same thing happens tomorrow, and then we fly out on the 20th at 15h55.

I hope to go do some a little bit of shopping tomorrow in the morning, but it would seem that very few stores open before noon. Perhaps Saturday morning also will present an opportunity, as long as I am not late to the airport!

last concerts before China

Both performances of the Brahms Choral Fantasia went very well, and I had the chance to speak with Laurence Equilbey, and will be auditioning for her in Paris in late January/early February, after I get back from China.  It was an eye-opener - or rather an ear-opener - to hear the orchestra from the stage in Studio Four of Flagey; the sound on the stage was a bit muddy, and loose in an unpleasant way, but I realized afterwards that the sound for the audience was superb.  That's an odd effect to experience, after the transcendent quality of the sound in Liège.

But I don't have any photos yet of that production... I think that Tele2 was there filming it, so perhaps there will be some video forthcoming from the choral conductor.  Instead, pictured above you see the end of this past weekend's project: two performances of the Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem with Camerata Vocale.  This was of the "London" version for two pianos, but the conductor Philippe deClerk decided to augment them with the addition of a timpanist from the orchestral score.  It actually worked very well!  The choir sang extremely well, and the church - the Eglise Ste. Anne in Auderghem, maybe three kilometers from our home - was packed for both nights.  My friend Rita Matos Alves sang the soprano solo, and it was great to collaborate with her again after our series of performances of Le Nozze di Figaro two years ago.   Philippe was really pleased and has already expressed his interest in further projects with me, so that is the best review that one could get.

I also sang a concert of British and American music with a string quartet at a castle near Antwerp on Sunday morning, so after singing many days in a row I was very tired vocally and needed to rest and save my strength up.  Fortunately there is a lot of work a singer can do without actually singing, like reviewing the scores for future pieces, checking pronunciation, verifying word meanings, memorizing text, listening to recordings, deciding on phrasing, and so on.  Tonight and tomorrow I have the third and fourth performances of Carmina Burana, which will take place at two locations slightly to the west of Antwerp.  We have two conductors sharing this series, and Luc Laurent has completed his, and hands to baton to Luc Martens.  From our earlier discussions I think his tempos will be a little slower than his colleague's were, but we shall see.

Monday will be a general strike across the country, so the boys are going to stay home.  Maggie will be teaching, but it will be nice to have an entire day with the boys prior to my departure for Berlin on Tuesday morning.  I have already ordered a few small things to be sent to Rob and Viki's in Scotland where they will be over Christmas and New Year's Day, so that at least is covered.  And I bought a turkey for us to have on Monday evening.

Earlier this week I went camera shopping with my friend, the professional photographer Stephan Darding.  Photogallerie is a great pro shop here in Brussels, one of the last ones left, and they let me spend well over an hour trying out their gently used cameras, until I found one that I wanted.  I looked at the Sony Nex 6, the Olympus OM-D  E-M5, and the Fuji X-E1.  All are interchangeable lens mirrorless cameras, and all are now a couple of years old.  Here are what they look like:

The Olympus camera has a very similar look and feel to my old Olympus OM-1 film camera, but in truth, the sensor is a micro four-thirds sensor, and so it is rather on the small side.  The model they had was quite expensive nonetheless.  I didn't really get much of a chance to play with it though, concentrating on two cameras with APS-C sensors, which are very large and give excellent images.

This is the Sony NEX6.  It has a great optical viewfinder and when it came to focusing it was amazingly easy to manually find the right focusing length.  It also shoots fantastic HD video.  However the Sony lenses themselves are not so great, and the NEX6 came with a zoom kit lens that I would have had to buy.  I hate zoom lenses, and so that argued against the NEX6.

What I finally decided on was the Fuji X-E1.  This camera feels like a real film camera to me.  Other Fuji X series cameras have an optical rangefinder/viewfinder a bit like old Leicas but that was very disorienting to me as I am used to looking through the lens to compose my pictures.  The optical viewfinder on this camera is really quite good, and has a diopter correction dial to help adjust for individual variations in vision when focusing.  As well one can take pictures and adjust settings on a Fuji camera like this without every having to touch a button and navigate a menu, which is something I would have to do on the Sony.  Want to shoot fully automatic?  Put both the aperture and speed dials to A for automatic, and you are good to go.  Prefer to go aperture priority with a lower F-stop to get good bokeh?  No problem.  Want fast shutter speed to catch a moving object or avoid movement blur?  Again, no problem.  Plus it has a nice little pop-up flash as well.  What blew my mind is the low-light options; you can switch quickly between an ISO as low as 100 and as high as 12,600!  That is nuts.  With a 16 megapixel APS-C sensor pictures are of a quality that works for poster-sized enlargements; even saved as high-quality JPEGs they are smaller than RAW files but still very nice. Used, this camera cost me only 350 EUR, which is half the price of the other two, and I think it's the superior camera.  As well, I was able to delay the purchase of a lens; Stephane has an old 50mm Canadian-made Leica lens that he lent me; with an adapter it comes out to about 75mm, which is a good portrait-length lens.  Manual only, but for now that's just fine with me.  The autofocus Fujinon FX35mm (53mm equivalent) 1:1,4 lens is about 500 EUR new, so I think I will wait a bit; they might come up used, or I have already seen one new on ebay for around 350 EUR.

 Here are a few experimental shots.

 

We went out to dinner with a colleague this week, and on the way home stopped at the Grand'Place for a look at the crêche and the Christmas tree and lightshow.

As you can see here, the main advantage of a large sensor and a good lens is that you can achieve good bokeh.  This is a Japanese word that describes the pleasing aesthetic effect of out-of focus sections of a photograph, as a function of the lens.
 

I don't know if there is a Japanese word for unwilling photographic model.  Maggie doesn't seem too impressed.  Actually as most of my experiments in photography were when she wasn't around this is the only picture I have that she will let me share.

But in any case I am well armed for documenting Berlin and China.  I leave on Tuesday, and will be in Berlin rehearsing until we leave on the 20th, and will take the opportunity to take some photos.  We will have a couple of days in Beijing to acclimatise after our flight, and plan to go visit the Great Wall, and I hope, the Forbidden City, so I will try to take lots of pictures then also.

I am not sure about blogging in China but I am sure I will get another post in before Christmas, but in case I don't... Merry Christmas to all!

Beethoven tomorrow in Liège

Pictured above is the beautiful interior of the Salle Philharmonique, home of the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège.  This evening I had a chance to sing in it for the first time as part of our general rehearsal for the Beethoven Choral Fantasy Op. 80, with Kaito Kobayashi, piano, the Octopus Symphonic Choir, and the OPRL.  The orchestra is amazingly good; they play so precisely but also are capable of such soft yet clear sound.  It's not weak, just quiet, and then their crescendos are magnificent and full without sounding loud.  Really amazing.

This is no doubt due not only to their impeccable musicianship but party also to the excellent acoustics of the hall.  Built in 1887 and completely restored between 1998 and 2000, it seats 1162 people, so it is a tiny bit larger than the Theatre Royal de Liège itself, home of the opera.  By comparison the Brussels BOZAR Henry Le Boeuf Hall seats 2,200, as does the Four Seasons Centre in Toronto, more or less (2,071); La Monnaie in Brussels seats 1,700.

singer's-eye view of conductor Laurence Equilbey

 

In any case this salle has a long history in my own artistic lineage.  It is attached to the Conservatoire of Liège and that is where Pierre Fleta taught singing for many years, some of them to Bruce, when the two of them weren't busy at the Theatre staging or singing in operas.  Bruce did a number of studies at the Conservatoire, and received diplomas and medals in arts lyriques, mélodie, and vocal pedagogy, and his graduation recital was performed in this very salle about thirty years ago, with this very orchestra accompanying him.  So you can imagine how satisfying and stirring it is to sing as a soloist in this place.

Laurence Equilbey is a rising star in the musical firmament... based in Paris she is the conductor of a number of award-winning orchestras and choirs there, and she seems to be a very clear and calm person.  The Choral Fantasy is a bit like a proto-ninth symphony, with a finale that incorporates solo and choral voices on an Ode-to-Joy theme.  But as we are the only singing part of the programme we only had a short rehearsal this evening and then were released until a short warm-up tomorrow prior to the concert in the evening.  The second perfomance will take place in Brussels at Place Flagey (which seats 862, in case you are interested in that sort of thing) next tuesday.

 

In other musical news, last weekend was a busy but very satisfying two concerts of Carmina Burana in Binkom, located about a 45 minute drive more or less directly east from Brussels.  Everything went off very well, we all had a lot of fun with this crazy piece and the team is looking forward to a little rest before we perform the next two concerts in December, just before I head off to China...

Those plans seem to be proceeding.  We have received notice of one concert cancellation at the beginning of our tour, which will mean an extra day or two in Beijing.  This is great news actually as I hope to get a chance to visit with our friends Ros and Joe and their daughter Orla, whom we met while vacationing in Corsica some years ago.  They are a wonderful family; Joe has just started as headmaster of a private school in Beijing, so it would be a real shame while in the city not to see them.  I hope that we can make that work.

One of the fringe benefits of having a singer in the household is that while he or she is often away in the evenings, flowers miraculously appear following those absences.  These bouquets are quite lovely with seasonal colours and they liven up the interior of our home.

 

I am not sure about whether or not I will receive flowers in China; I hope not as they will be quite difficult to transport back to share with the family.

Maggie and the boys have full days...  Duncan has his examination for this orange karate belt this coming Saturday, and I am keeping fingers crossed that he has "rehearsed" his kata enough.  He also has been cast as the talking donkey (a la Shrek I suppose) in the church Christmas pageant and seems to have his lines more or less memorized.  Malcolm has received his exam schedule, and continues with his music, art and theatre classes.  His comics authoring class has fired him up a lot, so much so that he's got up the courage to submit one of his comics to the school magazine... we'll see if he gets published.  His flute pieces are going well too but he needs to be reminded to practice.  I am also taking piano so I have chosen a nice Bach piece for piano and flute, and have to get cracking on my own practice of that if I want to have it ready for the concert exams that will eventually happen.

As for other academic concerns, I attended parent-teacher conferences for both boys, and things are looking fine for both, with some challenges for Malcolm in particular (the fourth year of high school = grade 10 in Canada, and a big shift in how the material is presented and tested) but no mortal dangers and many signs of good progress for each of them.  Maggie is also doing fine at work; there are lots of activities going on at her school these days.  She and Duncan are going to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat on the weekend, presented by the Theatre group at St. John's, so that should prove to be fun for them.  She had a big food festival that she ran today as part of her food science class, and all of the administrators went home with satisfied stomachs, so that is good news for her programme.  She and the boys will be going to Scotland to spend a week or so with Rob and Viki and their daughters over Christmas while I am away, and we have bought their ferry tickets this week.  They seem a little expensive but one does save on the cost of a hotel room, and of course the cost of a lot of diesel fuel for the car, and time spent driving.  This way it's about three hours driving to Amsterdam and then another two and a half or three hours from Newcastle to Garvald.  Compare that to driving to Calais (about two and a half hours if you are lucky) and then the chunnel which is only a half an hour, but the lineup and loading takes quite a bit of time, and then to drive all the way from Folkestone to Garvald (750 km)... it's pretty much impossible to do it in one go, so it's a no-brainer to take the ferry, provided you remember to bring your dramamine (Gravol).

That's about it for now.  I also have some more things upcoming; two Brahms Requiems in Brussels to think about, some auditions to arrange, and a few other smaller projects.  As well, as I mentioned last blog post, I've been in contact with a number of conductors in Canada and it looks like I will have a healthy schedule there, next year at this time.  But that work continues... a tour to Canada won't organize itself.  Have a good weekend!

Haydn, Mozart, Remembrance and Carmina Burana

A busy couple of weeks since Maggie made it back safely from Canada.  I think I showed you the "before" photo of the rabbit?  Here is is after marinating for a few days and after the cooking; the big pot holds the rabbit after being stewed for hours, removed to cool slightly and then stripped from the bones (you don't have to do this but I do it as a favour to Duncan who is a bit put off by the little bones in rabbits).  The sauce is then blended to thicken it and then the meat returned to the sauce.  The small saucepan has onions in stock and sugar, and the white pan has wood mushrooms that have been quickly sautéed.  The little fry pan holds the livers, kidneys, heart and lungs, fried up quickly in butter and some pepper and thyme, and these special treats the boys both usually lay claim to.  The white things in the stock are flour dumplings, which I tried making for the first time, using a recipe out of Edna Staebler's Food that really schmecks and they were a huge hit.  I think they will become part of many stews in the future.  The whole thing is mixed up together and makes a great fall or winter meal.
 

Here's another follow-up photograph, of the Haydn Creation, taken from I think one of the boxes of the Conservatory.  A good shot that picks up almost everyone in the choir, the soloists but only two-thirds of the orchestra; unfortunately it cut off the 'cellos and the organist, seated to our left.

Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles - Die Schöpfung

The next big project after Maggie's return was the Mozart Requiem with the Flanders Baroque Academy.  I had previously performed Messiah three times with conductor Paul Van Loey, and we also did the Hunting Cantata together, but it had been a few years... It was a great concert with a dynamite choir, and a diverse but very accomplished orchestra.  I ended up driving three of the violinists back to Brussels; one had come from Gdansk and another from Osaka expressly for this project.  It was a real pleasure and I am also happy that some parts of the Mozart Requiem that I found stressful last time were much more relaxed and easy now, even at a slightly lower pitch.  Chalk it up to experience, and the fact that I was rattling around in the low register quite a bit with the Creation, I suppose, so the voice was comfortable in a low tessiture.

general rehearsal Bornem

The first concert was in a lovely church in Bornem pictured above, with an intimate and revealing acoustic.  The second was at the magnificent Abbey church of Grimbergen, which was much larger.  I guess the monks there must have made a lot of money licencing the beer?

 Our names up in lights.  Well, "on something that was well-lit".

a view of the magnificent Abbey of Grimbergen

the pulpit

it's getting to be a habit - the Monks' vestry

Both performances were sold out.  It is great to share in this success, and I hope that Paul and I can find a time when our schedules coördinate again, because he really is a very clear and original conductor, who pulls together a lot of very fine musicians for these projects.

As Bornem is between Brussels and Antwerp and the traffic is legendarily bad, I left quite early, and so arrived early, and killed a little time in a second-hand shop.  This shawl-collar tuxedo is from a Paris label, and for 12 euros I thought it would be worth the risk.  It only just fits, and could be longer in the sleeves, so Malcolm had better find some event to wear it to before he grows further.

Speaking of that, Duncan is also growing extremely quickly.  You may not see it in this picture below, taken near the rue des bouchers and the St. Nicholas church during a trip he and I made during the holiday week, but he has put on weight and height this summer, and the trend continues into the autumn season.  I bought both of them second-hand kilts based on the measurements that I took in June, and Duncan is already too large to fit his.  It's a shame as it is a fine Macpherson Ancient tartan, but I am going to hang onto it for now.

Malcolm's Ancient Lamont kilt fits him very well, however, and while it isn't exactly Rose family, or MacPherson, for a fifteen-year-old it will have to do.  The tradition in Scotland is that formal wear like kilts isn't usually bought until age nineteen or so, when the young men have more or less stopped growing.

Young men were very much on everyone's mind this week... those who fell in a war that consumed this country 100 years ago.  Malcolm wore his kilt to our Remembrance Day concert on November 11th, as did a number of the other men in attendance, and Maggie wore a kilted skirt that she received from her mother.  (Duncan did manage his tartan tie, but we will see about fixing him up soon if we can.)  Here is a picture or two of that very emotional service...

We used in total three pianist/organists, one cellist, and one piper; one tenor, two baritone, four soprano, and one mezzo soloists; four readers of letters, poems and scripture; and choral pieces for the junior and senior choirs.  It all went off extremely well, and with a running time of 90 minutes from the first bagpipe music calling people into the concert to the final hymn with audience participation that closed it out, afterwards most of the audience came downstairs for drinks and snacks.  In the end we raised almost 1000 EUR in donations for the Poppy Fund, and many people said that they felt it to be a fitting commemoration.

I must say that I have a new-found respect for the kinds of things that Bruce seems to pull off so neatly at Queens; he produces a benefit concert for the school of music - involving what seems like a hundred performers - every year, sometimes on a theme of "A Night in Vienna", sometimes "A Salute to Broadway", and this year, "The Last Night of the Proms".  Keeping all of the moving parts coordinated is nerve-wracking, and if one is also performing one tends to neglect one's normal process of preparation, and focus on the other participants instead.  And then suddenly it's time to change hats and sing something, without having had the luxury of a proper warm-up!  I prefer to just have my own music to worry about, thank you very much, so I think I will leave off the "producer" role to others for a while.


This past weekend I had my first semi-rehearsal with the massed choirs that will perform Carmina Burana four times over the next month or so.  The first two concerts are this coming weekend so I was happy to give it a go this week.  Orff published at least two settings of the instrumental parts of the work: one for orchestra, and a second for two pianos and percussion ensemble.  It is this second setting that I am singing for the first time, and I am looking forward to it very much.  The choirs have obviously been rehearsing this diligently for a long time and so I am excited to play around with this piece again... four performances is a huge luxury.  The pianists are very good and the percussionists enthusiastic, so it promises to be a good run.

Other good news: I wrote earlier this year that I had auditioned for Early Music Vancouver's music director and conductor Alexander Weimann... well, while that seemed to be a very positive audition, I heard nothing from him about any future projects.  That's pretty much par for the course.  Auditions are not like job interviews; you aren't auditioning - usually - for any particular job, but just out to make an impression and show the person what you, your acting and your voice is capable of.  The truth is that auditions almost never lead to anything.  For example, almost all of the work that I am doing this season is because of past projects that went well, or because of reputation or referral.  But we keep on doing them; to stay sharp, to expand our reputation, to work with high level artists that we haven't yet, etc.

That assumption that auditions are throwaway things that you sing and then forget about is what makes it all the more exciting... Alex will conduct Messiah in December of 2015 with Symphony Nova Scotia, and he advised the Symphony that he would like me as his bass soloist, so they called to offer me the contract.  Symphony Nova Scotia is a first rank orchestra that regularly hires top-rank Canadian singers, so I am really very happy that this is going to take place, and I am really looking forward to working with Alex.  Messiah is a piece that shows my voice off quite well, I think, so it should be a chance for something special.  As well there are other projects that are likely to unfold around that time in Canada, and I already have the duet opera recital with Bruce and Dina on the books for January/February 2016 at the new recital hall, so I am already very happily starting to fill in the calendar into 2016...

Toussaint

Toussaint is the day in Catholic regions of Europe that everyone goes and tidies up the gravesites of their loved ones.  They place chrysanthemum flowers on the graves, so every corner store, grocery and of course florist has a huge stock of these potted flowers in the few days leading up to November 1st.

It is fitting then that my next concert will be a Requiem; the Mozart Requiem.  We will have two performances in the middle of next week with the Flanders Baroque Academy led by Paul Van Loey.  I was very happy to do three performances of the Messiah with him a few years ago, and also some Bach cantatas.  We have tried to arrange something since but it seems that I am always busy.  I just had to refuse a Johannes-Passion with him for March 2015, but it would seem that this time at least our schedules will work out for a successful collaboration.  Paul is one of the founding members of a world-famous baroque quintet, and also played as a bassoonist for Philippe Herreweghe on numerous projects.  He is a talented guy and a fun person to work with so I am happy to explore Mozart's music with him.

 

Our two performances of Die Schöpfung last weekend were a roaring success, and we had much applause and many compliments.  Hilde Coppé and Vincent Lesage were excellent colleagues and based on the reaction I will not be surprised if we work together again someday.

The boys have been taking it easy all week.  For most of last weekend Duncan was staying with his friend Arthur, and they went together with Arthur's family to Lille, where there is a big LEGO store.  Duncan had saved the money that he earned from selling his toys at the brocante, and supplemented that with allowance savings, and splurged on a big set of the Batman Arkham Asylum.  Malcolm was happy to have the quiet to spend the whole weekend drawing.  The same held true on Monday; while Duncan quietly spent the day building his LEGO set, Malcolm was able to continue his own projects.  Here's an example of some of his work; it's a pencil drawing of the Ice King from the TV show Adventure Time that he inked, then scanned into Photoshop.  Then he cleaned up some of the lines and coloured it in on the computer.  He's really enjoying developing his facility with Photoshop and is talking about buying a graphics tablet, that lets him draw directly on a Photoshop canvas.

On Thursday I had a nice rehearsal with the Fidelio String Quartet.  I have been invited to perform a concert with them at the Kasteel van Brasschaat, near Antwerp in early December, and we spent an afternoon together at the home of the 'cellist Ann Engels, working through our material.  Ann has a gorgeous country home southeast of Brussels, and it was such a beautiful day that I even took the top down in the car, and had a picturesque drive through the rolling countryside.  The family dog, "Lou" is a beautiful, calm and sensitive Irish setter, and it was love at first sight for me.

Speaking of picturesque settings, Maggie has been enjoying her time in Canada, and courtesy of our photo-sharing, I get to see her photos as she takes them.  This one made me miss autumn in Canada; there are no MacIntosh apples in Belgium, unless you count the computers...

But this one made me even more jealous!

It's really great that she is having the opportunity to visit with her parents and to soak up some of the great cottage atmosphere.  Stillness is something that you can find in Belgium but not the quiet stillness of a northern lake in the autumn.

Last night we took part in the official Hallowe'en parade.  It started up near Duncan's school on the same street as our first Belgian house on Rue des Archives, and ended near the Charlotte Royal Bakery, so it passed through a lot of our old neighbourhood.  As Hallowe'en as it is celebrated in America is not a natural thing for the Belgian kids - they usually dress up in costume for Carnaval, not Toussaint - it takes some organization.  The whole thing is organized by a committee, and the kids move in one big mob from one candy provider to another.  Perhaps one in a dozen houses along the route give out candy to the kids, but even given this relatively light participation they did pretty well.  I was quite pleased with Duncan's Luke Skywalker costume, which we managed to improvise handily with his Karate tunic, one of Malcolm's belts, a machined aluminum flashlight for a lightsaber, track pants with tensor bandages wrapped around his lower legs, and his snoopy bathrobe artfully arranged to make a cape.  The blond hair was a bonus!  Arthur opted for a more traditional "scary" costume, which seems to be the norm here: the childrens' costumes were almost exclusively skeletons, witches, devils, vampires, wherewolves and so on.

Speaking of wolves, I saw that rabbit was on sale at the DelHaize yesterday and so bought two; they are currently in the refrigerator marinating in celery, carrots, onions, bay leaf, thyme, crushed juniper berries and peppercorns, apple cider vinegar and brown beer.  They were all out of Chimay Bleu so I opted instead for "Lupulus", which is a dark Ardense beer that we tried for the first time with Bryan and Kiana in Houffalize this past summer.  I'll let you know how the rabbit likes the wolf; it should be ready to get cooked for Sunday evening, to celebrate Maggie's return, after two days in the marinade.

After the trick-or-treating was done last night Duncan and Arthur came here to watch the Mask movie with Jim Carey.  It's actually ok in french, as most of his humour is obvious from his facial acting.  Then Arthur stayed overnight; they are upstairs playing now as Malcolm sits on the sofa reading.

Apart from rehearsing for the gig at the castle, and singing through the Mozart Requiem, I also have some paperwork to do.  The full details of the China trip have been finalized, and as I suspected we will have ten concerts, which will not leave me huge amounts of time for sight-seeing.  I need to make my application for the VISA to go to China, which involves submitting the itinerary, my passport, a new passport photo, the tickets, etc.

It's another beautiful day here, 19 degrees, and sunny, which is really exceptional for this time of year.  It will be warm and dry enough to hang laundry out on the drying frame on the terrace, and then I think we'll give the house a once-over prior to Mom's return.

Happy Hallowe'en to everyone!